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Reviews For: Ten Tec Century 21

Category: Transceivers: HF Amateur HF+6M+VHF+UHF models - non QRP <5W

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Review Summary For : Ten Tec Century 21
Reviews: 3MSRP:
Description:
25W DSB CW Rig
Product is not in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0035
W7VO Rating: 2014-02-10
Oh, to be a Novice again Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Had one of these as a Novice/Tech licensee, and still have one all these years later. Ran my very first CW contest (Novice Roundup) with it, and won the section as I remember. Simple to operate, plenty of power for CW contacts. I have had 0 issues with it. A worthy addition to anybody's collection.
KC8YLJ Rating: 2009-02-17
Oldie but very good QRP rig Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I sold a TS-130s as I wanted a basic simple QRP CW rig (my only HF rig) am well satisfied with it in both rec & xmit - I does well with a long random wire (no tuner) with the TT-760 keyer - so far no issues & the PTO is holding up very well - this is a definite keeper - am now looking for a TT-Argo to go with it for SSB - 73 Herb KC8YLJ
KB3LFC Rating: 2004-07-20
Versatile, well built CW rig. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
In the late 1980s, when my call was KC3YD, I had several QRP rigs in the shack including a Century 21 that I bought for $100 bucks. My other rigs were an HW-7, Ten Tec Argonaut 509, and a Ramsey 30-meter RCVR and XMTR.
I probably used the Century 21 and the HW-7 more than any of the other rigs. It was areal dream to operate. It could be powered with 110 AC power or run off a battery or power supply. It had a 12V outlet that I used with an in-line dropping resistor to power up a Bencher iambic keyer. Mostly, I operated the Century 21 at 5 watts or less, mostly less. occassionally I woould turn it down to less than 1 watt for QRPp operation. However, the rig is capable of putting out a 15 or 20 watt signal, depending on frequency. I read where you can replace the 50,000 ohm linear taper drive pot with a 50,000 ohm audio taper pot for true QRPp operation, but never tried this. I once let the rig to a "friend" who ended up burning out the finalsm, and that's kind of difficult to do thanks to the rig's ability to shut down when detecting a high SWR. Thankfully the finals were easy to replace, just solder in a pair of 1969s. If I remember, the middle leg of the transistors was cut off before installing.
In 1993 my revered and beloved Century 21 was of of many victims of a house fire, as were the Argonaut and the Ramsey rigs. The HW-7, despite a scorched case, did survive.
I have another Century 21 lined up that will be for sale when the present owner moves to Florida next spring.
Perhaps one better than the Century 21 would be the Century 22, a digital freq readout with 30 meters added, however, I have no experience with this rig.